Methods and systems for access controlled spaces for data analytics and visualization

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for enabling organization and control of dashboards, visualizations, and other saved data objects into spaces. An exemplary method includes, based on at least one role of a user, controlling the user&#39;s access to a default space and to other spaces of a plurality of spaces, such that the only spaces that the user can access are the default space and the one or more other spaces. Each space can contain a number of saved objects such as dashboards, visualizations, or other objects. The method can provide a graphical user interface for enabling the user to select, as a current space, the default space or one of the other spaces; and in response to the selection, automatically saving new objects generated by the user into the current space; wherein each of the spaces is configured to provide access to certain data objects only or access to certain applications only.

FIELD

The present technology pertains in general to data visualization andmore specifically, to providing spaces configurable for access controlfor various data analysis, visualization, and exploration.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described in the Detailed Descriptionbelow. This summary is not intended to identify key or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure provides various embodiments of systems andmethods for providing spaces (also referred to as workspaces)configurable for various data visualization and analysis. Variousembodiments enable the organizing and access controlling of dashboards,visualizations, and other saved data objects into spaces that arecontainers

An exemplary computer-implemented method includes providing a userinterface for enabling the user to select, as a current space, a defaultspace or one of one or more other spaces of a plurality of spaces; andin response to the user selecting the current space, automaticallysaving new objects generated by the user into the current space; whereineach of the one or more other spaces is organized and configured toprovide access to certain data objects only or access to certainapplications of a plurality of applications only. In some embodiments,the method further includes, based on at least one role of the user,automatically controlling access to the user to the default space and tothe one or more other spaces of a plurality of spaces, such that theonly ones of the plurality of spaces that the user can access are thedefault space and the one or more other spaces.

One of the many advantages of various embodiments of the presenttechnology is that spaces need not be organized by teams, but insteadcan be organized by common purpose. In addition, access can becontrolled to limit a user's access to certain applications. Inaddition, an example method can automatically generate a default spacefor a user; and automatically place some or all of the user's saved dataobjects that existed before the default space was generated, into thedefault space. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of spaces isindependent, such that the saved objects unique to one of the spaces donot appear in any of the other ones of the plurality of spaces. Themethod can further provide a user interface for selectively deleting afirst space of the plurality of spaces, wherein in response to theselectively deleting, the deletion selection is cascaded to all savedobjects within the first space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by limitation, inthe figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like referencesindicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system having a distributedapplication structure, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an example diagram illustrating various aspects and processflow, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an example user interface showing multiple selectable spacesfor a user.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface for displaying selectablespaces and the predetermined default login space, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface for managing workspaces,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example create space UI for creating a space,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example delete space UI for deleting a space“Executive” and all its contents.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example UI for creating a role with full access toall spaces, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example UI for creating a role with read-onlyaccess to all spaces with full access to only a selected space,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example UI for creating a role with read-onlyaccess to only a selected space, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example UI for viewing all space privileges for acertain role name, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a simplified flow diagram of a method, according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a computing system, accordingto some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While this technology is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail several specific embodiments with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the technology and is not intended to limit the technologyto the embodiments illustrated. The terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended tobe limiting of the technology. As used herein, the singular forms “a,”“an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unlessthe context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understoodthat the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or“including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that like or analogouselements and/or components, referred to herein, may be identifiedthroughout the drawings with like reference characters. It will befurther understood that several of the figures are merely schematicrepresentations of the present technology. As such, some of thecomponents may have been distorted from their actual scale for pictorialclarity.

The present disclosure is related to various embodiments of systems andmethods for providing spaces configurable for various datavisualization, analysis and exploration.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating a system 100 to illustratecertain concepts of the distributed nature and distributed applicationstructure, according to some embodiments. System 100 includes clientapplication 110A, one or more nodes 1201-120X, and connections 140.Collectively, one or more nodes 1201-120X form cluster 130A. When onlyone node (e.g., node 1201) is running, then cluster 130A is just onenode. In various embodiments, a cluster (e.g., cluster 130A) is acollection of one or more nodes (servers) (e.g., one or more nodes1201-120X) that together store data and provides federated indexing andsearch capabilities across all nodes. A cluster can be identified by aunique name, such that a node can be part of a cluster when the node isset up to join the cluster by its name. A cluster may have only one nodein it. In some embodiments, a node (e.g., one or more nodes 1201-120X)is a single server that is part of a cluster (e.g., cluster 130A),stores data, and participates in the cluster's indexing and searchcapabilities. A node can be identified by a name which by default is arandom Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) that is assigned to the nodeat startup. Any number of nodes can be in a single cluster. In someembodiments, nodes (e.g., one or more nodes 1201-120X) can communicateusing an application protocol (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP),transport layer protocol (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)),and the like. Nodes can know about all the other nodes in the cluster(e.g., cluster 130A) and can forward client (e.g., client 110A) requeststo the appropriate node. Each node can serve one or more purposes,master node and data node.

Each of client application 110A and one or more nodes 1201-120X can be acontainer, physical computing system, virtual machine, and the like.Generally, client application 110A can run on the same or differentphysical computing system, virtual machine, container, and the like aseach of one or more nodes 1201-120X. Each of one or more nodes 1201-120Xcan run on the same or different physical computing system, virtualmachine, container, and the like as the others of one or more nodes1201-120X. A physical computing system is described further in relationto the exemplary computer system 1300 of FIG. 13. Virtual machines mayprovide a substitute for a physical computing system and thefunctionality needed to execute entire operating systems.

When client application 110A runs on a different physical server from anode (e.g., of one or more nodes 1201-120X), connections 140 can be adata communications network (e.g., various combinations and permutationsof wired and wireless networks such as the Internet, local area networks(LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN), wide area networks (WAN), andthe like using Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and the like). When anode (of one or more nodes 1201-120X) runs on a different physicalcomputing system from another node (of one or more nodes 1201-120X),connections 140 can be a data communications network. Further detailsregarding the distributed application structure can be found in commonlyassigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/047,959, filed Jul. 27,2018 and incorporated by reference herein.

Having provided the above details of certain concepts of the distributedapplication structure described above, the description now turns tofurther detailing aspects of the present technology according to variousembodiments.

Although various example embodiments are described herein with respectto KIBANA and other elements of an integration solution called ELASTICSTACK, the present technology is not so limited.

KIBANA provides for data visualization and exploration, for example, forlog and time-series data analytics, application monitoring, and otheruse cases regarding a user's data on its servers, cloud-based servicesused, etc.

FIG. 2 is an example diagram of a system 200 illustrating KIBANAconnections and flow with respect to other aspects of an integratedsolution referred to as ELASTIC STACK. BEATS can capture various itemsincluding but not limited to audit data (AUDITBEAT), log files(FILEBEAT), availability (HEARTBEAT), metrics (METRICBEAT), networktraffic (PACKETBEAT), and windows event logs (WINLOGBEAT). BEATS cansend data directly into ELASTICSEARCH or via LOGSTASH (a data-collectionand log-parsing engine) where it can be further processed and enhancedbefore visualizing, analyzing and exploring it using KIBANA). AlthoughFIG. 2 includes KIBANA and other particular aspects and components, thepresent technology is not limited to utilizing some or all of thecomponents and aspects.

KIBANA can provide a powerful and easy-to-use visual interface withfeatures such as histograms, line graphs, pie charts, sunbursts and thecan enable a user to design their own visualization, e.g., leveragingthe full aggregation capabilities of the ELASTICSEARCH (a distributed,multitenant-capable full-text analytics and search engine). In thatregard, KIBANA can provide tight integration with ELASTICSEARCH forvisualizing data stored in ELASTICSEARCH. KIBANA may also leverage theElastic Maps Service to visualize geospatial data, or get creative andvisualize custom location data on a schematic of the user's choosing.Regarding time series data, KIBANA can also perform advanced time seriesanalysis on a company or other user's ELASTICSEARCH data with providecurated time series user interfaces (UI)s. Queries, transformations, andvisualizations can be described with powerful, easy-to-learnexpressions. Relationships can be analyzed with graph exploration.

With KIBANA, a user may take the relevance capabilities of a searchengine, combine them with graph exploration, and uncover the uncommonlycommon relationships in the user's ELASTICSEARCH data. In addition,KIBANA can enable a user to detect the anomalies hiding in a user'sELASTICSEARCH data and explore the properties that significantlyinfluence them with unsupervised machine learning features. A user couldalso, e.g., using CANVAS, infuse their style and creativity intopresenting the story of their data, including live data, with the logos,colors, and design elements that make their brand unique. This coversjust an exemplary subset of the capabilities of KIBANA.

Some embodiments provide for the user to share visualizations anddashboards (e.g., KIBANA or other visualizations and dashboards), withothers, e.g., a user's team members, the user's boss, their boss, auser's customers, compliance managers, contractors, while having accesscontrolled.

Various embodiments of the methods and systems of the present technologyenable a user to organize their dashboards and visualizations intospaces, e.g., KIBANA spaces. In various embodiments, a user can inviteother users into certain spaces (and not others) using role-based accesscontrol or attribute-based access control. Spaces can allow users toorganize their dashboards, visualizations, and other saved objects intomeaningful categories based on team, use case, individual, etc. Usingrole-based access control, security can be layered in to control who can(and cannot) view and/or edit which space. If an organization has ashared KIBANA instance with hundreds of dashboards and visualizations,for example, spaces can allow the organization to deliver a moreorganized and secure experience to the end users. Spaces can also beconfigured to not allow certain applications to be used in theparticular space as will be described further herein.

Each space can be a secure container for a user to put in many differentsaved objects in KIBANA—dashboards, visualizations, saved objects, indexpatterns (to indicate which search engine indices a user wants toexplore), advance settings, timeline expressions, etc. that wouldnormally get bundled into one KIBANA index with access to everyone.These spaces can be isolated into individual containers in the UI. Thiscan allow a user to do any sort of grouping they desire,

FIG. 3 is an example user interface 300 showing multiple selectablespaces for a user. In this example, there is an Engineering team 302, aSecurity team 304, and a Sales team 306 which the user is allowed tochoose (e.g., space chooser). Administrators or others can setup thesespaces.

When a user logs in, if it is determined that the user's role(s) and/orattribute(s) has access to the particular space, then the method andsystem can prompt the user with the ability to select that space. In theexample in FIG. 3, an interface may be presented when a user logs inwhich shows certain selectable spaces that the user can access. Morespecifically, the user is prompted with the Engineering space 302,Security space 304 and Sales team space 306 from which the user can makea selection. This, in effect, can transform the experience ofinteracting with the visualization platform to tailor it for theparticular spaces. The user logging in and seeing the user interface 300may only see applications that are associated the three spaces, 302,304, and 306. For example, if the user selects the sales team's space306, that space 306 may be configured to provide access only to certaindata objects and to certain applications associated with the sales teamspace 306. In this example, the user selecting the sales team space 306can only see the dashboards, visualizations, and index patternsassociated with that particular space. Index patterns can be patternsregarding how to query and where to query the search engine for data.

The particular spaces that a user can select can be determined by anadministrator based on the user's roles and/or attributes. If themethods and systems according to various embodiments determine that theuser does not have access to a particular space, then that particularspace will not be visible or selectable by the user in the UI, e.g., theuser will not see it and won't even know the other spaces exist or theexistence of saved objects within those other inaccessible spaces.

Each space may be independent in the sense that objects unique to afirst space do not appear in a different, second space.

In some embodiments, a dashboard only mode is configurable on a space byspace basis. For example, one of the selectable spaces may be configuredto provide a dashboard-only mode, where based on the role and/orattributes of a particular user, that particular user may only be givenread only access to marketing dashboards and operational dashboards,while other selectable spaces may be configured to provide fulleraccess.

In various embodiments, many discrete sets of data can be made securefrom each other. In an example common use case, it may be desired tohave read only access to KIBANA and to also have many discrete sets ofdata that are secure from each other. To achieve this prior to thepresent technology, a large number of KIBANA instances would have to bedeployed and managed separately which can be burdensome and cumbersome.In various embodiments, the user need not have to do that in order tomanage, e.g., discrete data sets, etc.

The ability can be provided to select which space is a default space.For the default space, in response to the user logging in, the systemcan immediately drop the user into a particular default space. Forexample, a user on the engineering team, may want to always be loggedinto the engineering space first and just have the option to switch tothe other ones if the user desires.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface for displaying selectablespaces and the predetermined default login space, according to anexample embodiment. In this example, the predetermined default loginspace is the Engineering space. In some embodiments, an indicator 402 ofthe selected space (e.g., Engineering space selected as default) and aselection menu of other accessible spaces is displayed via a navigationbar.

As described herein, the methods and systems in various embodimentsprovide the spaces functionality in such a way to enable a user toincrementally begin using spaces for their saved objects, andincrementally add security aspects, described herein. In variousembodiments, a user on the search engine platform who is new to thespaces functionality can take advantage of the capability of spaceswithout any migration or backwards compatibility impediments.

Regarding the default space, the methods and systems in variousembodiments will put saved objects that were created before the spacesfeature was enabled, into the default space. In various embodiments, thedefault space is where saved objects that were created before spaces areenabled will go; and where dashboards, visualizations, etc. that areimported via BEATS will be created, until their workflows are augmentedto allow the user to choose a space. An optional/space/path if present,is modified and if not present, a default space will be used. Forexample, uniform resource locators (URLs) for saved objects that werecreated before the spaces functionality was enabled will work, invarious embodiments, as long as the respective saved object continues toexist within the default space. In some embodiments, if the saved objectis moved to another workspace, in various embodiments the previous URLs(including short URLs) will no longer work and the user will get anerror message.

Further regarding the provided seamless transition default space, invarious embodiments, when a user creates a data object in the space, forexample a user creates a dashboard within the engineering space, somechanges are applied to the underlying data model for that dashboard. Theidentifier for the space can be stored on the saved object, e.g., thedashboard in this example. All objects in the default space have noidentifier, according to various embodiments. The absence of any sort ofspace identified can then indicate that the saved object actuallybelongs to the default space. Thus, when a user updates to add thespaces functionality, all of the user's existing saved objects that theuser might have previously created are now actually inside this defaultspace that the user can select like any other space. Thus in variousembodiments, a user's whole existing installation is essentially thedefault space which that user can just add on to.

In some embodiments, the URL that the user will see in a browser userinterface implementation will also include the unique space identifierfor that space in the URL. The URL may further include an identifier forthe associated dashboard being accessed. Various embodiments allow theuser to choose to take saved objects from a space and add them to adifferent space, unless access control security may otherwise limit thetransfer.

In various embodiments, a user can choose to have access controlsecurity, as described herein, for their new spaces, providing anincremental and gradual way to adopt spaces within an organizationwithout having to start over or do some huge migration of their existingdata objects, e.g., already in KIBANA.

In another example, if the user was a salesperson and the only space theuser had access to was the sales team space, e.g., 306, the salespersonwould be brought directly to that space on login.

In some embodiments, the methods and systems enable a user andorganization to organize spaces not so much around teams, but insteadaround a purpose within the company. For example, data around thecompany's public website if anyone is interested to run that data; datacould be around all of the activity for their GitHub repositories, toname a few examples.

Data can be existing saved objects on the platform such asvisualizations, dashboards and index patterns (a way to cacheconfiguration details about how one searches for data). Data can also beanother type including data ingested into ELASTICSEARCH and areperforming search requests against it. This other type of data could belog data, ingesting GitHub activity, to name a few. In variousembodiments, a user is not forced to restrict access to their own dataof this other type. So, for example, using access control security,various embodiments enable restricting access to dashboards and othersaved objects outside the space boundary; and theoretically, a usercould simultaneously be given permission in ELASTICSEARCH, for instance,to search all of the user's own data including logs, etc. This meansthat in various embodiments, the access control for spaces (and savedobjects therewithin) is not coupled to access control on the user's owndata that the user is ingesting into ELASTICSEARCH and trying toanalyze. On the other hand, the role based access control can beconfigured in such a way that a user only has access to the engineeringspace and only has access to the data in ELASTICSEARCH that is relevantto the engineering space.

For example, the engineering and security teams might be interested inthe same raw log data, but for different reasons (e.g., debugging andsecurity anomaly detection). In various embodiments, a dashboard relatedto the log data cannot exist in both the engineering space and thesecurity space. Theoretically, there could be two distinct dashboards,however, one in the engineering space and the other in the securityspace where although the dashboards are distinct saved objects, eachdashboard can create the same visualization in two different spaces andeach dashboard's query, can make the same request to the search engine.That configuration of dashboards is theoretically possible even thoughthere may not be in some embodiments an explicit sharing mechanism onthe underlying dashboard saved object to indicated belonging to multiplespaces.

It should be clear that in various embodiments, the present technologygoes far beyond merely having a feature where, for example, the securityteam gets their own space to put objects into and the sales team getstheir own space. Among other things described herein, spaces in variousembodiments are not necessarily team specific and instead are inherentlyflexible enough to be team oriented if the user desires (along withproviding all the associated functionality discussed herein) or thespaces can be configured in a totally different and unique way toorganize an organization's data. Spaces can be configured according towhatever common thread or purpose binds different individuals or teams.For one of the many examples further described herein, a productionwebsite could create their own space for which there could be a dozenteams having access to that space. The security team may want to accessthe website space because they are using a machine learning applicationwithin that space to identify anomalies in traffic to the website, e.g.,to prevent denial of service (DOS) attacks, etc. Other teams may begiven access to the production website space because they have otherspecific things they may want to do with that data, to organize fortheir particular analysis purposes. The sales team might want access tothe production website space since they may be interested in knowingwhich countries get the most traffic on the website, to track like asales funnel. Other teams may have other use cases for features for thedata at the production website space and rather than inefficientlyseparating those features across several teams, a user could put themall in one space for the production website. Each organization can bedifferent insofar as how it organizes its workflow, and spaces can helpenhance people's workflows, e.g., across teams, having commonality inteams, or commonality in purposes, etc.

Certain aspects such as, for example, machine learning (ML), applicationperformance monitoring (APM), other monitoring, and reporting may existoutside of the context of spaces, and continue to use cluster-widesettings and indices. These particular applications may include anindicator signifying that those particular applications are not within aspace, so the user is aware that those particular applications areavailable cluster-wide. In some embodiments, a space may be exposed on arequest from an ML application so the ML application can read theobjects within that space.

Certain saved objects can exist within a single space. In someembodiments, sharing is not permitted between multiple workspaces.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface 500 for managing spaces,according to an example embodiment. Various embodiments provides forenabling a systems administrator, for example, to do certain managing ofthe spaces, e.g., Create/Read/Update/Delete (CRUD) operations, e.g.,creating spaces, reading spaces, updating spaces, and deleting spaces.

In some embodiments, in response to a space being deleted, the deletionis cascaded to all saved objects within the space. Additionally, userinterface settings can be space specific, and the settings from thedefault space are copied to the new space when it's created, accordingto various embodiments. Based on roles and/or attributes,read-only/write access can be granted to different spaces.

In some embodiments, in response to saved objects being exported, e.g.,outside the system, the space in which they currently belong is omitted.In response to object being imported, the imported objects may beassigned to the currently selected space.

According to another example, there may be a sales team, an operationsteam, and a security team. These teams may differ in how they visualizedata and in which data they care about, e.g., the sales team may notcare about the log data that the operations team is aggregating and theoperations team may not have the need for access to sales data. Variousembodiments answer the question who can do what and who has access towhat set of features and the underlying data models that empower them.For example, an organization may have organizational concerns regardingwho can do what and who has access to what set of features and theunderlying data models that empower them. Various embodiments canaddress these organizational concerns.

For a very small number of people in the entire group, access controlmay not be an issue, but it certainly is where there is a team of peopleor multiple teams that want to access only certain particulardashboards, access only certain visualizations, and/or access onlycertain index patterns which describe, for example, how to query andwhere to query the search engine for data.

Although some examples have been given for teams, some uses are not teamoriented. For example, a company or user may want to have a number ofdifferent data sets that are all related to their production website.The company is keenly interested in keeping the website up and running,not buggy, etc. All of the data sets pertaining to the productionwebsite and all of the dashboards, visualizations, index patterns,CANVAS work pads, etc. may be organized into a workspace. In addition,separate groups may want their own workspaces for their data, separateand apart from other groups. Access control security permissions can beset up to determine who can access what workspaces.

In some embodiments, methods and systems allow the user to customizewhich applications are available to users, by controlling access on aspace by space basis. For example, it can be determined that the salesteam should not have access to the CANVAS application at all. This mayoccur, for example, when it is clear that a particular team's (e.g., thesales team) data is not CANVAS related, and that team should beconstrained to a certain set of dashboards, for example, that have beencreated. In some embodiments, that particular team would not even begiven access to the features of certain applications, e.g., CANVAS, totake advantage of when the sales team is within their sales space. Thiscan provide more control and prevent unnecessary or undesirable use ofcertain applications by certain teams.

A production website is another example, which is not team specific,because there are multiple teams that need access to the data, but if itmay not be desired and/or needed for the production website data to takeadvantage of a code search product. Since in this example, if the codesearch product is not important for the production website data, thenthat code search application can be removed entirely from the productionwebsite space. As a result, those having access to the productionwebsite space cannot use the code search product within that space,according to various embodiments. That way, the application may not bean impediment to the production website data development, and not makethe space include unneeded applications that can cause inefficiency orcomplications since they are not needed and should not be used for thatspace.

In some embodiments, for security reasons, access control is enforcedsuch that a user cannot circumvent spaces and access a dashboarddirectly, e.g., at the application programming interface (API) level,that the user cannot access in spaces. In various embodiments, accesscontrol would have to give the user access, based on roles and/orattributes for the user, to the space to which the particular dashboardbelongs in order for the user to retrieve that dashboard or interactwith its data.

The spaces functionality may be at the API level or the user interfacelevel in some embodiments.

In various embodiments, role management provides the ability to applyaccess control on top of spaces with defined security boundaries aroundthose spaces. An administrator can select which roles would only be ableto access the objects that are within a particular space. In variousembodiments, underlying methods and systems determine which spaces arepresented to a particular user for selection, based, for example, on auser's attributes and/or roles. For example, to view a person's privatehealth information, a number of conditions must be met to include arecent, valid Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(HIPAA) training certificate. Since everyone can take the training ondifferent dates, no single role can take into account a person'straining status, thus an attribute is reviewed to make the determinationof which spaces can be selectable by a particular user, and presentedaccordingly in according to various embodiments. In addition torole-based access control there can also be attribute-based accesscontrol. Further details on attribute-based access control are includedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/212,475, filed Dec. 6, 2018.Attributes could include, for example, projects they work on, teammemberships, certifications, years of service, and physical location, toname just several possibilities. For a thing (i.e., resource),attributes could be sensitivity level, personally identifyinginformation (PII) status, protected health information (PHI),time-to-live (TTL), or physical location. An attribute, for example, canbe having certain specialized training and certification required foraccessing certain data. Since everyone can take the training ondifferent dates, no single role can take into account a person'straining status. In addition to HIPAA, other security policies may beinvolved for financial or other sensitive information.

FIG. 6-FIG. 11 illustrate examples user interface screens are shown forvarious aspects regarding spaces.

Referring back to FIG. 5 which illustrates an example management userinterface (UI) 500 for spaces, according to an example embodiment. UI500 shows the user's default space and other spaces the user can access.In example embodiments, the current space is always visible in thebottom left of the navigation bar. The user can also navigate to thespaces management UI directly from the navigation bar to create a newspace. From UI 500, a user can create, edit, and delete spaces. In theexample in FIG. 5, UI 500 includes a selectable create space link/button502 to initiate the creation of a new space. Although links, buttons, orother icons are shown and/or referenced in the examples in the figures,it should be appreciated that voice command or other graphics may beused for a selectable item.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example create space UI 600 for creating a space,according to an example embodiment. This “Create space” UI can providefor adding a name, at 602, for the space. At 604, an avatar can becustomized for the new space. A unique URL identifier can be provided at606, which will display for the browser-based interface for the space.For example, this identifier can become part of KIBANA's URL. In someembodiments, a user can customize the URL when creating a space, butonce created, the user may not be allowed to update it. At 608, anoptional description can be provided by the user, in this example.

In various embodiments, a user can delete a space if the user hassufficient privileges. FIG. 7 illustrates an example delete space UI 700for deleting a space “Executive” and all its contents. A confirmationcan be required to initiate the deletion.

As discussed herein, a user can move saved objects from one space toanother via import/export, if the user has sufficient access.

In some embodiments, the methods and systems enable a user to secureaccess to spaces, as described further herein. A user may control whichroles have access to each space. In other embodiments, the user maycontrol which roles or which attributes have the access. Access tospaces may be governed by a concept called “minimum privilege” withthree provided options. In some embodiments, for an “all” minimumprivilege setting, users will have read/write access to all spaces (inthe platform such as KIBANA, etc.) Additionally, this privilege canenable the user to be able to create, edit, and delete any space, andthis can extend to spaces created in the future. In some embodiments,for a “read” minimum privilege setting, users will have read-only accessto all spaces, which privilege extends to spaces created in the future.Another minimum privilege can be “none” which indicates that the usercannot access any space. In some embodiments, once a minimum privilegeis set, a user can customize access to specific spaces.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example UI 800 for creating a role with fullaccess to all spaces, according to an example embodiment. In the examplein FIG. 8, the user is permitted to set the minimum privilege to “all”while creating the role in order to grant access to all spaces. Thisparticular setting can prevent the user from customizing access on aspace by space basis.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example UI 900 for creating a role with read-onlyaccess to all spaces and with full access to only a selected space,according to an example embodiment. In the example in FIG. 9, the useris permitted to set the minimum privilege to “read” while creating therole in order to grant just read-only access to all spaces, and to “all”for the Marketing space to give full access to that space for the newrole. This particular combination of settings in the example UI 900 canallow the user to grant “all” access to specific spaces as needed, whilenot revoking all access to other spaces, instead providing “read-only”access to other spaces.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example UI 1000 for creating a role withread-only access to only a selected space, according to an exampleembodiment. In the example in FIG. 10, the user is permitted, whilecreating a role, to set the minimum privilege to “none” to preventaccess to any space. The UI 1000 example also includes selecting “read”for the Executive space in order to grant just read-only access to thatspace.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example UI 1100 for viewing all space privilegesfor a certain role name, according to an example embodiment. In theexample in FIG. 11, the user is provided with a “view summary of spaceprivileges” link 1102 (shown in its entirety at 1002 in FIG. 10), and inresponse, the summary of space privileges 1104 is shown to the user, inthis example.

FIG. 12 is a simplified flow diagram of a method 1200 for enabling theorganizing and controlling of dashboards, visualizations, and othersaved data objects into spaces that are containers.

Operation 1202 includes based on at least one role of the user,automatically controlling the user's access to a default space and toother spaces of a plurality of spaces, such that the only spaces thatthe user can access are the default space and the one or more otherspaces, each space containing a number of saved objects. The savedobject may be dashboards, visualizations, or other objects, as describedfurther herein

Operation 1204 includes providing a user interface for enabling the userto select, as a current space, the default space or one of the one ormore other spaces, as described further herein.

Operation 1206 includes, in response to the user selecting the currentspace, automatically saving new objects generated by the user into thecurrent space, as described further herein.

Operation 1208 includes, wherein each of the one or more other spaces isorganized and configured to provide access to certain data objects onlyor access to certain applications of a plurality of applications only.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1300 that may be usedto implement some embodiments of the present invention. The computersystem 1300 in FIG. 13 may be implemented in the contexts of the likesof computing systems, networks, servers, or combinations thereof. Thecomputer system 1300 in FIG. 13 includes one or more processor unit(s)1310 and main memory 1320. Main memory 1320 stores, in part,instructions and data for execution by processor unit(s) 1310. Mainmemory 1320 stores the executable code when in operation, in thisexample. The computer system 1300 in FIG. 13 further includes a massdata storage 1330, portable storage device 1340, output devices 1350,user input devices 1360, a graphics display system 1370, and peripheraldevice(s) 1380.

The components shown in FIG. 13 are depicted as being connected via asingle bus 1390. The components may be connected through one or moredata transport means. Processor unit(s) 1310 and main memory 1320 areconnected via a local microprocessor bus, and the mass data storage1330, peripheral device(s) 1380, portable storage device 1340, andgraphics display system 1370 are connected via one or more input/output(I/O) buses.

Mass data storage 1330, which can be implemented with a magnetic diskdrive, solid state drive, or an optical disk drive, is a non-volatilestorage device for storing data and instructions for use by processorunit(s) 1310. Mass data storage 1330 stores the system software forimplementing embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes ofloading that software into main memory 1320.

Portable storage device 1340 operates in conjunction with a portablenon-volatile storage medium, such as a flash drive, floppy disk, compactdisk, digital video disc, or Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage device,to input and output data and code to and from the computer system 1300in FIG. 13. The system software for implementing embodiments of thepresent disclosure is stored on such a portable medium and input to thecomputer system 1300 via the portable storage device 1340.

User input devices 1360 can provide a portion of a user interface. Userinput devices 1360 may include one or more microphones, an alphanumerickeypad, such as a keyboard, for inputting alphanumeric and otherinformation, or a pointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, stylus,or cursor direction keys. User input devices 1360 can also include atouchscreen. Additionally, the computer system 1300 as shown in FIG. 13includes output devices 1350. Suitable output devices 1350 includespeakers, printers, network interfaces, and monitors.

Graphics display system 1370 include a liquid crystal display (LCD) orother suitable display device. Graphics display system 1370 isconfigurable to receive textual and graphical information and processesthe information for output to the display device. Peripheral device(s)1380 may include any type of computer support device to add additionalfunctionality to the computer system.

Some of the components provided in the computer system 1300 in FIG. 13can be those typically found in computer systems that may be suitablefor use with embodiments of the present disclosure and are intended torepresent a broad category of such computer components. Thus, thecomputer system 1300 in FIG. 13 can be a personal computer (PC), handheld computer system, telephone, mobile computer system, workstation,tablet, phablet, mobile phone, server, minicomputer, mainframe computer,wearable, or any other computer system. The computer may also includedifferent bus configurations, networked platforms, multi-processorplatforms, and the like. Various operating systems may be used includingUNIX, LINUX, WINDOWS, MAC OS, PALM OS, QNX ANDROID, IOS, CHROME, andother suitable operating systems.

Some of the above-described functions may be composed of instructionsthat are stored on storage media (e.g., computer-readable medium). Theinstructions may be retrieved and executed by the processor. Someexamples of storage media are memory devices, tapes, disks, and thelike. The instructions are operational when executed by the processor todirect the processor to operate in accord with the technology. Thoseskilled in the art are familiar with instructions, processor(s), andstorage media.

In some embodiments, the computing system 1300 may be implemented as acloud-based computing environment, such as a virtual machine operatingwithin a computing cloud. In other embodiments, the computing system1300 may itself include a cloud-based computing environment, where thefunctionalities of the computing system 1300 are executed in adistributed fashion. Thus, the computing system 1300, when configured asa computing cloud, may include pluralities of computing devices invarious forms, as will be described in greater detail below.

In general, a cloud-based computing environment is a resource thattypically combines the computational power of a large grouping ofprocessors (such as within web servers) and/or that combines the storagecapacity of a large grouping of computer memories or storage devices.Systems that provide cloud-based resources may be utilized exclusivelyby their owners or such systems may be accessible to outside users whodeploy applications within the computing infrastructure to obtain thebenefit of large computational or storage resources.

The cloud is formed, for example, by a network of web servers thatcomprise a plurality of computing devices, such as the computing system1300, with each server (or at least a plurality thereof) providingprocessor and/or storage resources. These servers manage workloadsprovided by multiple users (e.g., cloud resource customers or otherusers). Typically, each user places workload demands upon the cloud thatvary in real-time, sometimes dramatically. The nature and extent ofthese variations typically depends on the type of business associatedwith the user.

It is noteworthy that any hardware platform suitable for performing theprocessing described herein is suitable for use with the technology. Theterms “computer-readable storage medium” and “computer-readable storagemedia” as used herein refer to any medium or media that participate inproviding instructions to a CPU for execution. Such media can take manyforms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile mediaand transmission media. Non-volatile media include, e.g., optical,magnetic, and solid-state disks, such as a fixed disk. Volatile mediainclude dynamic memory, such as system random-access memory (RAM).Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics,among others, including the wires that comprise one embodiment of a bus.Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves,such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR)data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media include,e.g., a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, anyother magnetic medium, a CD-ROM disk, digital video disk (DVD), anyother optical medium, any other physical medium with patterns of marksor holes, a RAM, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), a Flash memory, any other memorychip or data exchange adapter, a carrier wave, or any other medium fromwhich a computer can read.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to a CPU for execution. Abus carries the data to system RAM, from which a CPU retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by system RAM canoptionally be stored on a fixed disk either before or after execution bya CPU.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent technology may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as JAVASCRIPT, JAVA, SMALLTALK, C++ or the like and conventionalprocedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming languageor similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirelyon the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (e.g., through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present technology has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Exemplaryembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the present technology and its practical application, andto enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand theinvention for various embodiments with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated.

Aspects of the present technology are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present technology. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The description of the present technology has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.Exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explainthe principles of the present technology and its practical application,and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand theinvention for various embodiments with various modifications as aresuited to the particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providingaccess controlled spaces configured for data analytics andvisualization, the method: establishing a default space for a user, thedefault space being a secure container; selecting one or more otherspaces for the user from a plurality of spaces; based on at least onerole of the user, controlling access by a user to the default space andto the one or more other spaces of the plurality of spaces, such thatthe user can only access the default space and the one or more otherspaces; automatically placing some or all of the user's saved dataobjects that existed before the default space was generated, into thedefault space, the saved data objects being stored in the default space,the saved data objects including configuration data comprising aplurality of index patterns to indicate which search engine indices toexplore; providing a user interface for enabling the user to select, asa current space, the default space or one of the one or more otherspaces, wherein each of the one or more other spaces is associated witha unique identifier, the user interface configured to indicate at leastone cluster-wide application outside of the current space available tothe user, the at least one cluster-wide application using a plurality ofcluster-wide settings and at least one cluster-wide index; and inresponse to the user selecting the current space, automatically savingnew objects generated by the user into the current space, each of thenew objects comprising the unique identifier of the current space,wherein the saved objects stored in the default space have no identifierto indicate that the saved objects belong in the default space, whereineach of the one or more other spaces is organized and configured toprovide access to certain data objects only or access to certainapplications of a plurality of applications only.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising automaticallygenerating the default space for a user.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising generating a dashboard orvisualizations, wherein the dashboard or visualizations comprisehistograms, line graphs, pie charts, or sunbursts.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of theplurality of spaces are organized around a common purpose, wherein aplurality of teams belong to the at least some of the plurality ofspaces organized around the common purpose.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 4, wherein the common purpose is a production website.6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some ofthe plurality of spaces are organized around a common purpose and atleast some of the plurality of spaces are organized around a particularteam of a plurality of teams in a company.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 6, wherein the plurality of teams comprise engineering,sales, executive, and marketing.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, comprising creating and storing a unique identifier for eachspace of the plurality of spaces other than the default space.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in responseto the user logging in, presenting a user interface that filters theplurality of spaces for showing only ones of the spaces that the user ispermitted to access.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9,further comprising providing another user interface wherein access toparticular ones of the plurality of spaces can be designated asread-only for one or more of the users.
 11. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein access to other particular ones of theplurality of spaces can be designated as full access for the one or moreof the users via the user interface.
 12. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein a particular one of the plurality of spaces that theuser can access is determined by selections from an administrator basedon the user's roles or attributes for the user.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality ofspaces is independent, such that the saved objects unique to one of thespaces do not appear in any of the other ones of the plurality ofspaces.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein accessis configured such that, if the user does not have access to aparticular space of the plurality of spaces, the inaccessible particularspace will not be visible or selectable by the user.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further providing a userinterface for selectively deleting a first space of the plurality ofspaces, wherein in response to the selectively deleting, cascading thedeletion selection to all saved objects within the first space.
 16. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein settings from thedefault space are automatically copied to a new space in response to thenew space being created by the user or an administrator.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising providing a userinterface for selecting which ones of the plurality of applications areavailable to ones of the users having access to a particular space ofthe plurality of spaces.
 18. A system comprising: a processor; and amemory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storinginstructions executable by the processor to perform a method, the methodcomprising: based on at least one role of a user, automaticallycontrolling access to the user to a default space and to one or moreother spaces of a plurality of spaces, such that the only ones of theplurality of spaces that the user can access are the default space andthe one or more other spaces, each space of plurality of spacescontaining a number of saved objects, the saved objects being aplurality of dashboards, visualizations, or other objects, the defaultspace being a secure container; automatically placing and storing someor all of the user's saved data objects that existed before the defaultspace was generated, into the default space, the saved data objectsincluding configuration data comprising a plurality of index patterns toindicate which search engine indices to explore; providing a userinterface for enabling the user to select, as a current space, thedefault space or one of the one or more other spaces, wherein each ofthe one or more other spaces each have a unique identifier, the userinterface configured to indicate at least one cluster-wide applicationoutside of the current space available to the user, the at least onecluster-wide application using a plurality of cluster-wide settings andat least one cluster-wide index; in response to the user selecting thecurrent space, automatically saving new objects generated by the userinto the current space, each of the new objects comprising the uniqueidentifier associated with the current space, wherein the saved objectsstored in the default space have no identifier to indicate that thesaved objects belong in the default space; and wherein each of the oneor more other spaces is organized and configured to provide access tocertain data objects only or access to certain applications of aplurality of applications only.
 19. A system comprising: means for,based on at least one role of a user, automatically controlling accessby the user to a default space and to one or more other spaces of aplurality of spaces, such that the only ones of the plurality of spacesthat the user can access are the default space and the one or more otherspaces, each space of the plurality of spaces containing a number ofsaved objects, the saved objects being a plurality of dashboards,visualizations, or other objects, the default space and the plurality ofspaces each being a secure container; means for providing a userinterface for enabling the user to select, as a current space, thedefault space or one of the one or more other spaces, wherein each ofthe one or more other spaces each have a unique identifier, the userinterface configured to indicate at least one cluster-wide applicationoutside of the current space available to the user, the at least onecluster-wide application using a plurality of cluster-wide settings andat least one cluster-wide index; means for automatically placing some orall of the user's saved data objects that existed before the defaultspace was generated, into the default space, the saved data objectsbeing stored in the default space, the saved data objects includingconfiguration data comprising a plurality of index patterns to indicatewhich search engine indices to explore; and means for, in response tothe user selecting the current space, automatically saving new objectsgenerated by the user into the current space; wherein each of the one ormore other spaces is organized and configured to provide access tocertain data objects only or access to certain applications of aplurality of applications only, and each of the new objects comprisingthe unique identifier associated with the current space, wherein thesaved objects in stored in the default space have no identifier toindicate that the saved objects belong in the default space.